In many ways, the heart of 2018 winter that encompassed January and February was a wild ride of ups and downs in terms of both temperature and precipitation in the Midwest. While Chicago saw a significant increase in snowfall as compared to the prior year, it was mild weather and flooding rains that stole much of the headlines toward the end of the period in the Ohio Valley. There was plenty of significant weather to talk about, with a good deal of broken records as well.

While weather can be exciting or a nuisance (depending on which season you are fond of…), it can also be quite dangerous. In light of the recent brutal cold stretches we’ve had across the eastern half of the U.S., it becomes pertinent to talk about hypothermia and frostbite. Hypothermia, in particular, kills up to 1,500 people in the US every year. While this is a frightening statistic, it is most certainly preventable. So, let’s first delve into some science!

40 years ago today marks the Blizzard of 1978, a storm that will always be remembered in infamy. In its wake, it left 20 to even 40 (!!!) inches of the white stuff across parts of the Mid-Atlantic and especially New England. Although we aren’t strangers to big snowstorms (we've seen a few big powerhouses in the last decade like the Boxing Day Blizzard of 2010 and the Blizzard of 2016), this storm was a very special one.

Winter certainly wasted no time making an appearance this season! While November gave us a little taste of the cold, December gave us quite the seasonal shock. Let us dive right into what has been happening over the past two months.

The year of 2017 has come and gone and as we embark on the 2018 voyage, we are bombarded with the uncertainty of weather phenomena to come. Despite the yearly resolution many of us attempt to follow, there are always aspects of our lives that are simply out of our control, like powerful weather events. Here we reflect on some of the most costly, destructive, and immobilizing atmospheric incidents of the past year.

Thousands were out celebrating the first weekend of 1999 when snow slowly pushed into the Midwest late on New Year’s Day. States from Illinois to Ohio and Michigan were under the radar for a major snow event, but it would be Chicago and bordering areas around Lake Michigan that would take the brunt of the storm. It would go down as the second-worst blizzard of the 20th Century according to the National Weather Service.

Wow... What. A. Storm! That's probably the best way to describe the Blizzard of 2018. This was a winter storm that wreaked havoc from Florida all the way to eastern Canada. 12 - 18 inches of snow fell in spots along the New Jersey Shore into eastern New England. Additionally, Norfolk, Virginia saw nearly a foot of fresh snowfall. There was 3-6 inches into the eastern Carolinas, and even coatings of snow were seen across northern Florida (including Tallahassee).

Given the choice this winter, would you rather extend the life of your car or the life of the planet? The good news is that you don't have to choose! Enter the well-known myth: you should let your car warm-up before driving it in the winter. However, by skipping this pre-drive ritual, you’ll find that both your car and the environment benefit. Let’s look into where the notion came from and why it no longer holds.

Picture this: You're traveling on a road in a very remote area during a snowstorm. You take the necessary precautions while driving, but find that it becomes difficult to navigate the roads. Before you know it, your car is now stuck on the side of the road in the snow and you're also running low on gas. The snow also doesn't show any signs of stopping and temperatures are in the lower 20s. What do you do?

30 years ago this month, a massive storm system impacted the central United States. This system spread a path of snow from New Mexico all the way into Ontario, Canada. What would forever be known as Chicago’s ‘heart-attack’ snowstorm not only caused at least 26 deaths in the Chicago area but also took several lives and injured hundreds in Arkansas and Tennessee as a tornado shredded through the region.